Word forming puzzle apparatus



Aug.. 18, 1970 J. o. NILAN 1 3,524,648

I WORD FORMING PUZZLE APPARATUS Filed April 11, 1967 B I D l N G 2JNVENTOR.

- JOHN O. NILAN Y l WW ATTORNEYS rUnited States Patent O York Filed Apr.11, 1967, Ser. No. 630,028 Int. Cl. A63f 3/ 00, 9/06 U.S. Cl. 273-153 8Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE Game apparatus comprising apredetermined number of playing pieces, each playing piece beingprovided with a letter of the alphabet, and adapted for association todefine both a preselected key phrase and a plurality of player selectedwords, each letter of the preselected key phrase being utilized as a keyletter of one of the player selected words, whereby the number of playerselected words corresponds to the number of letters in the preselectedkey phrase. A game board is provided having locations for the playingpieces arranged in columns and rows, the number of locations beingrelated to the number of pieces in a ratio substantially less than 2: 1.

This invention relates generally to games and more particularly to gamesrequiring a player to combine symbols chosen from a predetermined symbolset, such as letters of an alphabet, numbers, or the like, to formsymbol subsets defined by predetermined usages, such asdictionary-defined words or mathematical relationships.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a gamecomprising a plurality of symbols defined by a symbol set of specificsymbol distribution, said symbols being capable of relative positioningto form symbol subsets and means defining criteria determinative ofplaying procedure and play objectives to enable player positioning ofsaid symbols according to said criteria.

It is another primary object of the present invention, in addition tothe foregoing object, to provide a game comprising a predeterminednumber of playing pieces, each playing piece being provided with symbolsselected from a symbol set, such as letters of an alphabet, and adaptedfor association to define both a preselected symbol subset and a groupof player selected symbol subsets, the preselected symbol subset,comprising, for example, a key phrase, the number of symbols thereofhaving a predetermined relationship to the total number of playingpieces and the player selected symbol subsets being defined bypredetermined usage, such as dictionary definable words, and whereineach symbol of the preselected symbol subset is utilized as a symbol ofone of the player selected symbol subsets, whereby the number of playerselected `symbol subsets corresponds to the number of symbols in thepreselected symbol subset.

Another primary object of this invention, in addition to the foregoingobjects, is to provide such a game further comprising a gameboardprovided with a plurality of locations adapted to receive the playingpieces with the number of locations being at least as great as thenumber of playing pieces.

It is a further primary object of this invention, in addition to each ofthe foregoing objects, to provide such a game wherein at least onevertically aligned group of locations is provided with indicia forindicating a preferred orientation of the playing pieces defined in thepreselected symbol subset.

Yet another primary object of this invention, in addi- 'ice tion to eachof the foregoing objects, is to provide such a game wherein the playingpieces and the gameboard are constructed and arranged for enablingretention of the playing pieces in position relative to the board.

lt is also a primary object of this invention, in addition to each ofthe foregoing objects, to provide such a game which is economical tomanufacture while yet being durable during use.

An important feature of the present invention is that the degree ofdifliculty, or the degree of skill and average playing time, may bereadily controlled by design considerations and be determinableaccording to a mathematical realtionship defining an index of solutionfacility.

The invention resides in the combination, construction, arrangement anddisposition of the various component parts and elements incorporated inan improved game in accordance with the principles of this invention.The present invention will be better understood and objects andimportant features other than those specifically enumerated above willbecome apparent when consideration is given to the following details anddescription, which when taken in conjunction with the annexed drawingdescribes, discloses, illustrates and shows a preferred embodiment ormodification of the present invention and what is presently consideredand believed to be the best mode of practicing the principles thereof.Other embodiments or modifications may be suggested to those having thebenefit of the teachings herein, and such other embodiments ormodifications are intended to be reserved especially as they fall withinthe scope and spirit of the subjoined claims.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a gameboard adapted for use with thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan 'view of the gameboard of the preceding gureshowing the manner in which the playing pieces may be associatedtherewith; and

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional elevational View taken along line3-3 of FIG. l.

Referring now to the drawing, there is shown and illustrated a group ofplaying pieces, plaques or tiles 10 characterized by the provision ofsymbols, in this case letters of the alphabet, thereon to enableassociation thereof to form lexical units of symbol subsets, in thiscase words, and groups of lexical units or symbol subsets defined by apredetermined usage, in this case dictionary defined words. There isalso shown and illustrated a gameboard 12 adapted to aid and assist inassociating the -playing pieces 10 to form such subsets or words andgroups of subsets or words. The tiles, plaques or playing pieces 10 andthe gameboard 12 may be fabricated of any conventional material, such asmetal, plastic, woods cardboard, Bristol board, or the like, with thesymbols, letters and other indicia being provided thereon by means ofprinting, embossing or the like.

The playing pieces 10 may, for example, be fabricated of cardboardsquares, imprinted on the top surface thereof with the symbols selectedfrom a fixed symbol set, in the illustrated embodiment letters of thealphabet. While any desired number of playing pieces 10 may be utilized,with the symbols or letters being provided in any desired frequency ofdistribution, for the exemplary form of the game shown and hereinaftermore fully described it has been found preferable to provide a total of200 playing pieces 10, with 69 of the playing pieces 10 being imprintedwith vowels and 131 of the playing pieces 10` being imprinted withconsonants. Furthermore, it has been found that the following frequencydistribution of the symbols or letters selected for the fixed symbol setor alphabet is preferable:

In utilizing the playing7 pieces 10 to play the game, initially a keyphrase is formed from the playing pieces 10, the number of letters inthe key phrase being related to the total number of playing piecesprovided. Using the 200 playing pieces distributed as above, it has beenfound advantageous to use a key phrase having 25 or 26 letters, the keyphrases utilizing 25 letters being more difficult than the key phrasesutilizing 26 letters. Associated with the apparatus may be means, suchas an instruction sheet, defining or setting forth exemplary key phraseswhich may be used, such as the following:

No. letters LITTLE STROKES FELL GREAT OAKS 26 DOUBLE DOUBLE TOIL ANDTROUBLE 26 WHAT IS THIS THAT THOU HAST DONE 26 KEEP COOL ANGER IS NOTARGUMENT 26 GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH 26 GIVE US THIS DAY OURDAILY BREAD 26 ONE GOOD TURN DESERVES ANOTHER 26 THAN NEVER TO HAVEFOUGHT AT ALL 26 ONE NIGHT ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM 26 A PENNY SAVED IS APENNY EARNED 25 TOUCH NOT TASTE NOT HANDLE NOT 25 HUMPTY DUMPTY HAD AGREAT FALL 25 LONDON BRIDGE IS FALLING DOWN 25 NEVER GO BROKE TAKING APROFIT 25 AND NEVER THE TWAIN SHALL MEET 25 THE KINDLY FRUITS OF THEEARTH 25 With the key phrase selected being formed, preferably generallyvertically as shown in FIG. 2, the object of the game is to then utilizethe remaining playing pieces 10 to build words outwardly from the keyphrase, using each letter of the key phrase as one of the letters of therespective words. For example, and as shown in FIG. 2, each letter ofthe key phrase may be utilized to provide the first letter of a word.The game would be completed by utilizing all of the 200 letters to formwords corresponding to all of the letters of the key phrase.

Certain rules or conditions are preferably followed in building thewords from the key phrase. For example, it has been found that it ispreferable to `build the words based upon the following four conditions:

(a) There must be one word completed for each letter of the KEY PHRASE.(b) Words used cannot be less than live letters in length (plurals orany tense ending may be used to It has been found advisable that theplaying pieces be separated into three groups prior to a playersbuilding of the words, namely: vowels, easy-to-use consonants (D, G, L,N, R, S and T) and hard-to-use consonants (B, C, F, H, I, M, P, Q, V, W,X and Z) and, accordingly, the playing pieces may be colored, orotherwise provided with identifying means, for aiding in separating theplaying pieces 10 into these groups or a group of bins, cornpartments,or the like may be provided for separating the playing pieces into setsof individual letters, or such groups of letters. In this way, a playerwill be aided in forming the appropriate words, since he should make aneffort to use at least one or more of the hard-to-use consonants inevery word formed.

4 For example, using the key phrase Little Strokes Fell Great Oaks, thefollowing group of words may be formed to fulfill all of the abovecriteria, utilizing all 200 playing pieces identified above:

LAWABIDING FUDGE IMMOBILIZE EASTERN TANGLED LACQUERS TOXICITY LIVERYLENDS GRAD'ED EFFECTIVE RICKSfHAW STICKS EXPOUNDS TROUBLED ARMOREDROWBOATS TOWNSHIPS OFFSPRING OPPORTUNE KOWTOWS ADJUSTMENT ENMESH KETTLESYMPHONICS STRENGTH While the playing pieces may 'be assembled on anyflat surface, the gameboard 12 is particularly constructed and arrangedfor cooperation with the playing pieces 10 as an aid in playing thegame.

Although, as pointed out above, the gameboard 12 may be fabricated ofany desired material, in the exemplary form of gameboard 12 shown in thedrawing, the gameboard 12 comprises a cardboard sheet 14 covered on thelower surface thereof with a cover sheet 16 and on the upper surfacethereof with an imprinted sheet 18 for providing the playing surface.The playing surface 18 is imprinted with generally horizontally andvertically disposed lines 20 and 22, respectively, to divide the playingsurface 18 into a plurality of generally square locations 24. Thelocations 24 should be at least as numerous as the number of playingpieces 10. In the exemplary form shown, the horizontal and verticallines 20 and 22 are configured to provide 26 generally horizontallydisposed groups of locations, each generally horizontally disposed groupof locations providing 10 locations. The leftmost location in each groupis marked, as by means of an X, to indicate the preferred orientation ofthe key phrase for positioning playing pieces. Accordingly, the playingpieces 10 which define the key phrase may be positioned on each of thesquares or locations 24 containing an X and the Words may be builtoutwardly therefrom by positioning the appropriate playing pieces overthe adjacent locations 24.

As an aid in positioning the playing pieces 10 relative to the board 12,means may be provided to enable frictional engagement between theplaying pieces 10 and the playing surface 18. For example, theundersurface of each of the playing pieces 10 may be provided with aflocked or otherwise roughened surface and the upper surface of theplaying surface 18 may be likewise provided with a flocked or otherwiseroughened surface to enable frictional interengagement therebetween.Alternatively, magnets or other temporary adhering means may be providedto aid in positioning the playing pieces 10 relative to the gameboardlf2 and retaining the playing pieces 10 in such position.

The basic game described above may be modified for additional playerinterest and/or difiiculty by initially positioning the key phrase onthe gameboard in other than the leftmost column, so that the letters ofthe key phrase form, say, the third or fourth letter of the words,rather than the first word, as hereinbefore shown, illustrated,described and disclosed. Additionally, the game may be made more diicultby modifying the rules to preclude the use of plural or past tense formsof the words. Appropriate markings may also be provided on the gameboardto indicate to a player the ideal and minimum word lengths allowableunder the rules or which will enable proper completion of the game.

The subject game may be played as a solitaire game, or may be madecompetitive by providing each player with a gameboard and a set ofplaying pieces or tiles and initially starting with the same key phraseon the respective boards. The player rst completing the game, or theplayer having the fewest unused letters at the end of a specified timelimit would then be the winner.

Wild letter playing pieces or tiles may also be provided, either inaddition to the 200 basic playing pieces or as substitutes for selectedones thereof. Such wild playing pieces would be either blank or providedwith some indicia other than a letter and could be used for any letterrequired. For example, the playing pieces provided may comprise 200playing pieces, including 6 wild playing pieces, 69 vowels, and 125consonants, with the frequencies of the letters being, for example, asfollows:

The above distribution of letters results in a game which is exceedinglydifficult to complete. A less difiicult game results from the followingletter distribution:

together with 8 wild playing pieces. Extra letters may be supplied to beused as replacements for any which may become lost.

In the embodiment hereinabove described, the symbols utilized correspondto letters of an alphabet, particularly the English alphabet, with thepermissible symbol subsets corresponding to English language dictionarydefined legitimate words. It is possible that the symbols and symbol setutilized may comprise other symbol sets, with well-defined elements,such as numbers, other alphabets, or the like, or with arbitrarilydefined elements, such as ideographs (in a rebus-type game), or thelike. Moreover, the symbol subsets need not be defined by formallexicography, but may, for example, be defined by occupational, slang,foreign language, technical, or any predetermined or arbitrarilydetermined usage.

For example, the symbols may comprise numerical characters, in whichinstance the predetermined subset may be defined by a specificmathematical quantity or physical constant, such as pi, e, logm e, logelO, Plancks constant, etc., or the predetermined subset may be anarbitrarily defined quantity. The player'selected subsets wouldcorrespond to mathematical series, such as arithmetic series, geometricseries, or the like, or may correspond to mathematical or physicalconstants.

The playing pieces, rather than being non-valued or equivalued, as inthe above embodiments, may also be valued or multivalued, especially forcompetitive play. In;

other words, in the above embodiments, completion of th '.sets ofletters among the Sf words and creating Nf new .distributionsDf-|(i)=Df-l1 =l, 2 Nf, where l1 game, or winning in the case of acompetitive game,` dey;

pends only upon the number of playing pieces utilized, rather thandepending upon which playing pieces were utilized. Differing values maybe related to differing ones of the playing pieces so that the specificplay pieces utilized may affect the outcome.

Additionally, the key phrase or predetermined symbol subset may beeliminated, enabling the player or players to form the symbol subsetswithout being limited by the criteria imposed by any predeterminedsymbol subset or key phrase, the player selected symbol subsets beingrelatively random or being limited to forming an interrelated symbolsubset corresponding to the predetermined symbol subset or key phrasebut being player selected.

In competitive embodiments, the element of competition may involve timeof completion, as heretofore described, or may be determined by totalsymbol value or formation of particular symbol subsets (e.g., 8-ball).

Competitive embodiments may also vary in mode; that is, in the number ofplaying surfaces, the cycle of play (such as alternate placement ofplaying pieces by two or more players), or in the procedures for symbolacquisition, deposition, removal, manipulation, or initial distributionto each player, that is, whether a player receives his symbols by chanceor by design.

The placement of the symbols may also be controlled by chance, say theroll of a die, or the like, or chance may be a factor in the placement,rather than skill alone.

Accordingly, while there are four steps involved in defining the playprocedure of the preferred embodiment, namely: (1) acquiring symbols,(2) depositing symbols on the playing surface, (3) removing symbols fromthe surface, and (4) manipulating symbols on the surface, these stepsmay each be modified, or even eliminated in certain cases, orconstraints may be imposed on any of these steps without departing fromthe principle of this invention.

The degree of difiiculty, which may be defined as an Index of SolutionFacility, G, may be calculated. Suppose a version of the game isspecified as follows:

(l) The key phrase contains m characters;

(2) The initial distribution of characters is D0; and

(3) There is a rule by which we can test whether or not a given orderedcombination of characters is a legal play in the game.

At any stage in the solution, words will have been formed for f-l of them letters in the key phrase and We will have remaining a distribution Dfof letters out of which to form the next m-f-i-l words; moreover, therewill be exactly S(Df) ways of arriving at this situation; i.e., S(Df)distinct ways of forming words for the same f-l of the m letters suchthat the distribution of letters which remain is Df.

`Consider the problem of forming the fth word: the fth letter of the keyphrase may be selected and the dictionary consulted in order todetermine how many legal (more than four and fewer than eleven letters)words can be formed -With the fth letter as its initial letter and itsinitial letter and the remainder of the letters drawn from Dr.Designating this number Sf, each of these Sf possible fth words leads toa stage in the solution at which words will have been formed for. f ofthe m letters in the key phrase and there will remain of the formerdistribution Df a new distribution out of which the next m-f words maybe formed. Clearly, certain of the Sf possible fth words may contain theidentical set of letters but in different order and use of either wordwould lead to the same new distribution. (For example: if the fth letterof the key phrase were B, and A, E, S, and T were available from Df,then BEAST, BEATS, and BASTE would all be legal and would all lead tothe same new distribution.) Identifying, then, the Nf unique is the ithof the Nf sets of letters, and in fact:

S(Df+1(i) )=H1S(D1) where n1 is the number of legal words which can beformed from lf using the fth letter of the key phrase as the initialletter.

But for each i this is just like the initial situation: at this stage inthe solution, words will have been formed for f of the m letters in thekey phrase and there will remain a distribution Df+1(i) of letters outof which to form the next m-f words; moreover, there will be exactlyS(Df+1(i)) ways of arriving at this situation. Thus, the process justdescribed can be repeated until a stage is arrived at where either l) alegal word cannot be formed beginning with the kth (final) letter of thekey phrase the letters in Dk or (2) a legal word cannot be formedbeginning with the kth (fiinal) letter of the key phrase and using allof Dm, or (3) a solution is reached; i.e.,

all of Dm can be utilized to form a legal word beginning with the mth(final) letter of the key phrase. Now, there are exactly S(Dm) ways ofreaching this situation and S()=nS(Dm) Ways of reaching a solution basedon Dmk where n is the number of legal words which can be formed havinginitially the mth letter of the key phrase and containing all of Dm.

The total number of solutions available for the given key phrase isclearly then the sum of all the (0) which exist, that is, which do notdrop out because of (1) or (2) above. Call this total Tk for the Kth keyphrase.

From knowledge of the distribution of letters in connected discourse,the probability can be calculated for any given combination of lettersin a key phrase. Clearly a vast majority of all possible and 26 lettercombinations chosen from the initial distribution will have such a lowprobability that they can be completely ignored, to wit: a key phrasecontaining all consonants is highly unlikely at best. For eachcombination Cj of letters chosen from the initial distribution, whoseprobability of occurrence Pci in a key phrase is greater than, say0.001, Tci can be computed.

The index of facility of solution of a game with given initial letterdistribution is therefore:

61:21; ailcj where (15:1 if PC2-0.001

The existence of this G enables the simple comparison to be made of thedifficulty of any two games in this general form. In fact, if G1 is thefacility index of one game and G2 is the facility index of a secondgame, and G1 G2 then clearly the second game is more difficult than thefirst. Notice that the two games may not even use the same characters orhave the same definition of legal words. In fact, the foregoing enablesthe comparison of any two games employing 1) a key phrase of any length,(2) any initial distribution of characters, and (3) any rule forchecking the legality of a given ordered combination of the characters.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for playing a solitaire game comprising, in combination, agameboard having lines thereon defining an array of areas constitutingplaying piece locations, said array comprising 26 rows each having 10areas; a plurality of playing pieces, at least some of which areprovided with a letter of the alphabet, the lettered pieces beingdistributed generally in accordance with the following letter frequencytable;

and means defining exemplary key phrases to be constructed bypositioning on said gameboard some of said lettered playing pieces witheach playing piece being posi tioned on a single one of the areas in asingle row so that words may be formed on the rows of the gameboardutilizing the remaining playing pieces, each key phrase being such thatthere is at least one solution wherein all of the playing pieces areutilized to form words on the gameboard.

2. Apparatus defined in claim 1 wherein said means defines exemplary keyphrases of at least 25 and not more than 26 letters each.

3. Apparatus defined in claim 1 wherein there is provided at least onevisually distinguished playing piece having no letter thereon and whichmay be arbitrarily utilized as a substitute for any desired letter.

4. Apparatus defined in claim 1 wherein one area of each of said rows isvisually distinguished from the other areas to define preferredlocations for constructing the key phrases from said playing pieces.

5. Apparatus for playing a solitaire game comprising, in combination, agameboard having lines thereon defining an array of areas constitutingplaying piece locations, said array comprising 26 rows each having l0areas; a plurality of playing pieces each of which is provided with aletter of the alphabet, the pieces being distributed generally inaccordance with the following letter frequency table:

and six visually distinguished playing pieces void of any letter forarbitrary use as any desired letter; together with means definingexemplary key phrases to be constructed by positioning some of saidlettered playing pieces on said gameboard with each playing piece beingpositioned on a single one of the areas in a single row so that wordsmay be formed on the rows of the gameboard utilizing the remainingplaying pieces, each key phrase being such that there is at least onesolution wherein all of the lettered playing pieces are utilized to formWords on the gameboard.

6. Apparatus for playing a solitaire game comprising, in combination, agameboard having lines thereon defining an array of areas constitutingplaying piece locations, said array comprising 26 rows each having l0areas; a plurality of playing pieces each of which is provided with aletter of the alphabet, the pieces being distributed generally inaccordance with the following letter frequency table:

any letter for arbitrary use as any desired letter; t0- gether withmeans defining exemplay key phrases to be constructed by positioningsome of said lettered playing pieces on said gameboard with each playingpiece being positioned on a single one of the areas in a single row sothat words may be formed on the rows of the gameboard utilizing theremaining playing pieces, each key phrase being such that there is atleast one solution wherein all of the lettered playing pieces areutilized to form words on the gameboard.

7. Apparatus for playing a solitaire game comprising, in combination, agameboard having lines thereon delining an array of areas constitutingplaying piece locations, said array comprising 26 rows each having 10areas; a plurality of playing pieces each of which is provided with aletter of the alphabet, the pieces being distributed generally inaccordance with the following letter frequency tab e:

and ten visually distinguished playing pieces void of any letter forarbitrary use as any desired letter; together with means definingexemplary key phrases to be constructed by positioning some of saidlettered playing pieces on said gameboard with each playing piece beingpositioned on a single one of the areas in a single row so that wordsmay be formed on the rows of the gameboard utilizing the remainingplaying pieces, each key phrase being such that there is at least onesolution wherein all of the lettered lpglayicrlig pieces are utilized toform words on the gameoar 8. Appartus for playing a game comprising, incombination, a gameboard having lines thereon defining an array of areasconstituting playing piece locations, said array consisting of aplurality of rows each having a plurality of areas; a plurality ofplaying pieces each of which is provided with a letter of the alphabet,said playing pieces being fewer in number than the number of said areaswith the letters thereof having a frequency distribution such that it ispossible to form an array of words on the gameboard utilizing all of theplaying pieces with one word in each row and at least one aligned seriesof letters transverse said rows forming a key phrase; together withmeans defining exemplary key phrases to be constructed by positioningsome of said playing pieces on said gameboard so that words may beformed on said rows of the gameboard utilizing the remaining playingpieces, one for each area.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS Austria. GreatBritain.

l5 DELBERT B. LOWE, Primary Examiner U.S. C1. X.R.

